Cat Crimes I, II, and III

by Ed Gorman (Editor/Contributor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor)

Nancy Pickard, Bill Pronzini, Herbert Resnicow, and others offer original mystery and suspense stories featuring cat crime-solvers and culprits

Genres: Anthologies, Short Stories

789 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1998

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Edward Joseph Gorman Jr. was a prolific American author and anthologist, widely recognized for his contributions to crime, mystery, western, and horror fiction. Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gorman spent much of his life in the Midwest, drawing on that experience to set many of his novels in small towns. After working over two decades in advertising, political speechwriting, and industrial filmmaking, he published his first novel, Rough Cut, in 1984 and soon transitioned to full-time writing. His fiction is often praised for its emotional depth, suspenseful storytelling, and nuanced characters. Gorman wrote under the pseudonyms Daniel Ransom and Robert David Chase, and contributed to publications such as Mystery Scene, Cemetery Dance, and Black Lizard. He co-founded Mystery Scene magazine and served as its editor and publisher until 2002, continuing his “Gormania” column thereafter. His works have been adapted for film and graphic novels, including The Poker Club and Cage of Night. In comics, he wrote for DC and Dark Horse. Diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2002, he continued writing despite his illness until his passing in 2016. Critics lauded him as one of the most original crime writers of his generation and a “poet of dark suspense.”

Reviews

[Karl]

I purchased this compilation due to a number of authors represented here:

Volume I
Bedeviled : a "nameless detective" story by Bill Pronzini
Buster by Bill Crider (Featuring a cast member of Sheriff Dan Rhodes office)
Finicky by John Lutz

Volume II

Saratoga cat by Edward D. Hoch
Tom by Bill Pronzini
The Scent of spiced oranges by Les Roberts
The New black cat by Bill Crider
Five starving cats and a dead dog by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
The winfield trade by Jeremiah Healy

Volume III

Where's mittens? by Matthew J. Costello
Cat burglar by Bill Crider
Constant companion by Peter Crowther

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn’t get through this book. The stories were pretty boring, except for a very select few. They all feature at least one cat, which is fun, but some of the stories were so gosh darn annoying and weird that I had to stop this torture. If you like stories like this, go ahead and read this book, but if you don’t then I wouldn’t suggest it.

[Kathi Olsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are short stories that I pick up once in awhile when I'm between books, projects or preparing to travel and don't want to start something big.

Finally finished with this.

Some stories are really good and some I didn't bother finishing. Some are dumb. If these collections were given to me in separate books or I bought the first one, I wouldn't bother buying the other two.

[Ramona · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great collection of authors who really pulled no punches when it came to including cats in their crime stories. Some were entertaining, others very dark. I chose which ones I wanted to read.

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume I: 3 stars
Lovesey, Peter - Ginger's Waterloo ***
Pronzini, Bil - Nameless Detective 0 Bedeviled ***
Hess, Joan E - A Weekend at Lookout Lodge ***
Breen, Jon L - Tea and 'Biscuit ***
Dorothy B Hughes, Horatio Ruminates **
Paul,Barbara - Scat ***
Reynolds, William J - Blindsided ***
Fahy, Christopher - the Last Temptation of Tony the C ***
Crider, Bill - Buster ***
Everson, David H -Catnap ***
Borton, Douglas - Last Kiss ***
Roberts, Les - Little Cat Feet ****
Lutz, John - Finicky ***
Lance, JA - the Duel ***
DeWeese, Gene - Archimedes and the Doughnuts ****
d'Amato, Barbara - the Lower Wacker Hilton ****
Collins, Barbara - A Proper Burial ****

Volume II: 3.5 Stars
Suter, John F - Remote ***
Hoch, Edward D - Saratoga Cat ****
Pronzini, Bill - Tom ***
Nelson Douglas, Carole - the Maltese Double Cross **
Haydon, June - All Places are Alike ***
Fahy, Christopher - Hunger ****
Battin, BW - Ailurophobia ****
Hess, Joan - the Maggody Files 0 Hillbilly Cat ****
Pickard, Nancy - Every Wednesday ***
Roberts, Les - the Scent of Spiced Oranges ***
Maron, Margaret - the Beast Within ****
Laymon, Richard - Kitty Litter ***
Macleod, Charlotte - A Long Time Sitting ****
Wheat, Carolyn - Cat Lady ****
Crider, Bill - the New Black Cat ***
Collins, Barbara - To Kill a Cat ****
McCrumb, Sharyn - Nine Lives to Live ****
Rusch, Kristine Kathryn - Five Starving Cats and a Dead Dog ***
Healy, Jeremiah - the Winfield Trade ****

Volume III: 3.6 Stars
Collins, Barbara & Max Allan - Cat Got Your Tongue ****
Resnicow, Herbert - A Few Strokes for Mitzi ****
Zubro, Mark Richard - Next Year, Kankakee ****
Costello, Matthew J - Where's Mittens? ***
Segriff, Larry - No Hard Fellings ***
Crider, Bill - Cat Burglar ****
Pickard, Nancy - Fat Cat ****
Lutz, John - Kitty ***
Rogak, Lisa Angowski - the Wall ****
Crowther, Peter - Constant Companion ****
Stanton Fordes, DeLoris - Dumb Animals ****
Lee, Wendi - Life of Riley ****
Hensley, Joe L - Catnapper ****
DeAndrea, William L - Killed in Midstream ****
Brod, DC - Leaving Cornucopia ****
Hall, Melissa Mia - Cat House **
Grape, Jan - Neutral about Cats ***
Knight, Arthur Winfield - Buster ***